| Find My Past TV series |  The ship known as His Majesty’s Armed Vessel Bounty was the setting for the most famous mutiny in the world. We recently took part in the filming (by Lion TV) of a programme on board the replica Bounty, built for the 1962 film ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’. This was for a new 10-part family history series called ‘Find My Past’, in association with the genealogy company Findmypast.co.uk. Instead of the formula of taking a celebrity and tracing their family history, this series takes a famous incident in history for each programme.For the ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ programme, the family historian Nick Barrett tracked down three people whose ancestors were there. We were filmed with Ken Ford, whose ancestor was John Fryer, the sailing master of the Bounty. Before this programme, Ken had no idea that John Fryer was his ancestor. The series is presented by Chris Hollins and is shown on the ‘Yesterday’ TV channel, but no doubt it will be repeated and sold to overseas channels.
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| Ebooks (love them or hate them) | | For those of you who love curling up with an ebook (difficult to imagine!) or who love the convenience of ebooks when on a journey or commuting, we are pleased to say that some of our books are now available as ebooks. These are: Jack Tar, The War for All the Oceans and Trafalgar (which is called Nelson's Trafalgar in the US). They all seem to be priced a little bit or quite a bit cheaper than their equivalent paperbacks. We have seen our Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece for sale as an ebook (eg on Amazon), at an inflated price, but the publisher says it isn't available as an ebook. We have yet to find out for certain, but best to buy the book! Empires of the Plain is planned as an ebook, but if you see any other books advertised as ebooks, then avoid them as they will be pirate copies from insecure sources. | |
| Lindsey Davis Rescues Rome | | Lindsey Davis, the acclaimed author of the Falco detective novels, set in Rome, has revealed in her Falco: The Official Companion that she would rescue a suitcase of Rome books from the rising floodwaters, including our Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. She also chose our Handbook as one of her top 10 Rome books on the Guardian website. | |
| Peep Show and Trafalgar |  Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle made an appearance at Christmas in the comedy programme 'The Peep Show' (series 7 episode 5), when Mark (played by David Mitchell) receives a copy of the book as a present from his flatmate Jeremy (played by Robert Webb). 'I heard you talking about it', comments Jeremy, to which Mark replies 'That's just tremendously thoughtful Jeremy'. Excellent taste! | |
| Latest Magazine Articles | | We write articles and occasionally review books for various magazines and newspapers. Here are three of the latest articles to be published: For the March 2011 issue of Family History Monthly, we wrote an article on the London beer flood of 1814, a fascinating and at the same time tragic event (see pages 46 to 47). Family History Monthly for July 2011 focused on the countryside. Our article, on blacksmiths, pages 38 to 41, is called 'The common smith'.
Our latest article to be published is also in Family History Monthly, for December 2011, pages 52 to 53, and is called 'The Forgotten Storm', on Britain's worst ever storm, in 1703.
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| Talks and Interviews |  We give talks at various events and also interviews (radio and TV) from time to time, and they seem to be well received. One librarian, for example, wrote to us after their event to say 'Many thanks to you for a wonderful talk. All the event forms gave a rating of excellent.' This picture was taken at another talk, at Waterstones in Torquay [alas, since closed down], where the staff joined in the spirit of things by dressing up as powder monkeys. Many thanks too to Brixham Museum for the loan of the cannon. We are always happy to consider invitations to give talks. | |
| Writing and Editing Services | | We offer professional writing and editing services for publishers, individual authors and other businesses. Our services include editing, copy-editing, proofreading, bibliographical compilation and indexing. We can also look after or advise on entire projects, from checking the spelling and wording of leaflets and websites to taking care of intricate academic reference books. We can give you a fixed quote (depending on the project) or we can work to an agreed hourly rate, whatever you prefer. We are extremely good and can therefore give your book or your company that much-needed boost. Please drop us a note through the ‘contact us’ page of this website. | |
| Jack Tar |  Our book Jack Tar: Life in Nelson's Navy was published in hardcover by Little, Brown in the UK to coincide with Nelson's 250th birthday. It was a very enjoyable book to write, delving into the world of the lower deck, and we hope you will be surprised and fascinated by our discoveries. Most correspondence from readers comes to us from the USA, so we know there are many of you out there disappointed to find that it is not on sale in US bookstores (though it is available in Canada).  The paperback is published under the Abacus imprint, with a revamped jacket design and a new subtitle - Jack Tar: the extraordinary lives of ordinary seamen in Nelson's navy.
'An enthralling book' (Sunday Telegraph, 5-star review) 'Roy and Lesley Adkins possess that rare knack among historians: merging the academic with the narrative and providing a riveting read which also casts light where it is dark' (Navy News) We are very pleased that Jack Tar was nominated for the 2009 Mountbatten Maritime Literary Award. | |
| Patrick O'Brian and Jack Tar | | A recent review of Jack Tar on Amazon is by Anthony Harrowsmith, from Yorkshire. He says in the 5-star review that 'Anyone reading Patrick O'Brian's 20 Captain Aubrey novels should read this book - it complements the novels perfectly.' We're grateful for this recommendation, especially as there must be millions of O'Brian fans! | |
| Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle |  The famous Battle of Trafalgar took place on 21 October 1805, when a British fleet under Horatio Nelson defeated a Combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar. Written by Roy Adkins, Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle, is available in paperback (Abacus). In the US it is published in paperback by Penguin, under the title of Nelson's Trafalgar: The Battle that Changed the World. Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese and Japanese editions are also available.The book is aimed at all readers of non-fiction and relates the background to the battle, life aboard warships for the men, women and children, the battle itself, and the terrible aftermath with the dreadful storm. 'masterful ... a compelling account' (Bernard Cornwell, Mail on Sunday) 'Vivid, scrupulous, immensely moving, this is a terrific yarn' (The Independent) 'The blazing Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle is at least the equal of Stalingrad in blood, pace and telling detail, but it also boasts a welcome twist to the genre with a lacing of black humour' (Independent on Sunday ) | |
| The War for All the Oceans |  The War for All the Oceans: From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo is a narrative history of the war at sea from the time of Napoleon's rise to power to his final defeat. This is the only book of its kind to relate the entire story of the struggle with Napoleon at sea, from the Battle of the Nile to Napoleon's final surrender after Waterloo, along with the little-known War of 1812 against America.It is published by Little, Brown in the UK in hardback and in paperback by Abacus. In the US is published by Viking Penguin in hardback.  The paperback of The War for All the Oceans is published in the US by Penguin.
'The book is 'Meticulously researched ... this lively narrative will delight students and fans of nautical history' (Publisher's Weekly) 'This real-life action will delight fans of fictional heroes from the same war - Horatio Hornblower (C.S. Forester) and Richard Sharpe (Bernard Cornwell)' (Kirkus) 'A rollicking, patriotic account of the Napoleonic Wars that will go down well with Master and Commander fans' (Dominic Sandbrook, The Telegraph) | |
| The War for All the Oceans: Polish translation | | The War for All the Oceans is published in Poland as Wojna o wszystkie oceany, in a beautifully produced hardcover by Rebis Publishing House. | |
| The War for All the Oceans: Audiobook | | We're very pleased that an unabridged audio version of our book, The War for All the Oceans is available in the US. It is produced by Tantor Media and is narrated by the award-winning Patrick Girard Lawlor. There are two versions: an unabridged CD, list price $109.99, currently available on Amazon.com for $69.29, and a MP3 CD, $39.99. Of course, these audio versions will be on sale in many places, not just Amazon, but that's all we've had time to check out so far. Happy listening! | |
| Empires of the Plain in Bulgaria | | Empires of the Plain has been recently published in Bulgaria, in paperback, by Riva Publishing, ISBN 978-954-320-289-8 (website: www.rivapublishers.com) | |
| The Keys of Egypt: Japan paperback |  The Keys of Egypt was published in paperback in Japan in June 2008 and has already sold over 29,000 copies. The title there is Rozetta-Stone-Kaidoku, and it is published by Shincho Sha, price 743 yen. | |
| The Handbook of British Archaeology - completely revised! | | This book was first published in 1982 and has been in print almost continuously ever since. Although it was still selling very well, the publishers (Constable and Robinson) and ourselves decided that a major new edition was needed. We are very fortunate that Victoria Leitch and a team of experts undertook this work. This new edition looks really good. There is a wonderful new chapter on post-medieval archaeology, and lots more on archaeological techniques. All the old chapters have been completely overhauled, with hundreds of new illustrations (all the old ones have been replaced). This is an absolute must-have book for anyone interested in archaeology. | |
| Archaeological Illustration | | Our book Archaeological Illustration (Cambridge University Press) is now available as a paperback - two decades after being first published! | |
| Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome | | An updated edition of our Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome is published in hardback by Facts On File in the US, price about $50, though the Oxford University Press paperback version is still available, but is unrevised! This book provides a detailed explanation of various aspects of life in the ancient Roman world and is aimed particularly at students. It has also been published in Russian by the Moscow publisher Veche and in paperback by The Commercial Press in China. | |
| Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece | | An updated edition of our Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece is published in hardback by Facts On File, price about $65. The paperback will still be available through Oxford University Press, but is unrevised! Like the Rome Handbook, the book is aimed primarily at students and provides an insight into 3,000 years of ancient Greece. It is also published in Russian by the Moscow publisher Veche and by The Commercial Press in China. | |
| Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon |  If you have the slightest interest in events in Iraq and Afghanistan, then this is the book to read! This highly topical book written by Lesley Adkins was published in 2003 but is now out-of-print. This true story is set in Afghanistan, Iran (Persia), Iraq and India. As such, it is an essential and entertaining read for anyone wanting to understand the historical background of this often troubled region.'Sir Henry Rawlinson was essentially James Bond in the flesh a century before Ian Fleming was born ... Well-told story of a life dedicated to scholarship, with great adventures and derring-do an unexpected bonus' (Kirkus Reviews). 'Empires of the Plain is a colourful account of a fascinating and little-known story. It combines scholarship with high adventure, and is enlivened by the larger-than-life character of Henry Rawlinson.’ (Sunday Times) | |
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